MLS Talk #67: Dave Brett Wasser, NASL Alumni Association

Episode 67 of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast features an interview with Dave Brett Wasser, the President of the NASL Alumni Association. In the show we discuss the legacy of the league on youth soccer and both the US and Canadian National Teams. We also discuss the impact the New York Cosmos and other top clubs made on world football and the reluctance of the MLS to embrace the legacy of the NASL.

We also ask a trivia question for a chance to win a A replica football jersey courtesy of SoccerPro.com

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About The Author

A lifelong lover of soccer, the beautiful game, he served from January 2010 until May 2013 as the Director of Communications and Public Relations for the North American Soccer League (NASL).
Raised on the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the old NASL, Krishnaiyer previously hosted the American Soccer Show on the Champions Soccer Radio Network, the Major League Soccer Talk podcast and the EPL Talk Podcast.
His soccer writing has been featured by several media outlets including The Guardian and The Telegraph. He is the author of the book Blue With Envy about Manchester City FC.

6 Comments

I also remember listening to Soccer Made In Germany, and being introduced to the World Cup through that program in 1982. Wow… I still remember Toby Charles, with his cheery opening lines like “well, it’s a lovely day for football here in the Bergelsberger Stadium!” I knew about ASL and indoor soccer at the time, but had very little awareness of the NASL outside of a book called “Advice from the Soccer Pros” with tips from NASL greats like Beckenbauer, Messing, Rote, Davis… So Soccer Made in Germany was absolute required viewing for me and my brother. Thanks for reminding me. And then there was World Soccer magazine! What an outstanding publication – we subscribed for years and lapped up every issue even though I would never see most of the teams and players in an actual match on TV, let alone live.
There’s one thing that the show unintentionally misportrayed, though. Prior to ’94 Euro sides did regularly pick up foreign players – in most cases rules limited them to two or three. Bernd Schuster and Barcelona was a famous example because of his highly mediatized fallout with the DFB and rejection of any Germany call ups (which of course I know about now through SMIG and WS) but let’s not forget that players like Cruyff (Barca) had already played outside their home countries before coming to NASL. Sure, Pele was famously declared a national treasure in Brazil to block his transfer to Europe, but he was an exception. Of course the scale of the international player market was much more limited, which was the point I think that your comments intended to make. But there was a limited market for international stars at the time. I had never thought of that market in relation to the NASL, though, and the NASL’s effect on Euro leagues in the 1990s. Thanks for the eye opening show.

Since he mentioned the Aztex, and complained about the stadium and pricing. I should point out that last night when the Dynamo played up there in Austin, the Aztex charged the Texian Army $26 per seat and wouldn’t give a group discount.

That was a great show! I learned a lot. No wonder so many people loved the NASL. What would the landscape of soccer look like in the US if the league did not fold? In the late 70’s I played on a youth team and we went and saw the Detroit Express play. What a history soccer has in the US. I do wish MLS would embrace the past more fully.

Very good show, looking forward to the next show on the US Mens team. Yes, it is tragic MLS has not embraced the past more. At the start it was good to have a clean break, but now it can be an important link to soccer’s history in the US which many people claim their is none.